Friday, November 6, 2009

Main Idea


How do you find the main idea of a story? This was the question the students have been working on in Reader's Workshop this week. They were taught that every paragraph has a main idea, and many supporting details to back it up. However, students frequently mistake details with the main idea. They learned that the main idea is what everything is about. Unlike details, which are the tiny events that only happen once in a story.


For example: In the Tree Little Pigs, the main idea is that 2 pigs realize they should have worked harder and built a strong house like their older brother pig when the wolf ruins their houses.

A detail is that the first house was made of straw and the second house was made of sticks.

See how a detail is small part that happened and the main idea is what the entire story is about?

Here are some practice websites and games to test your child's ability to sift through the details and discover the main idea.




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